Commentary: The trend trajectory of mortgage interest rates is largely in a sideways holding-pattern as investors await the results of this afternoon's sale of $35 billion worth of 2-year notes (1:00 p.m. ET). Trading volume will likely remain low ahead of Fed Chairman Bernanke's first-ever news briefing following the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. This event is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at 2:15 p.m. ET.
It appears few doubt the Fed Chairman and his band of merry central bankers will do or say anything to cause mortgage interest rates to make a sharp move higher. That is the good news.
The bad news is that there is an old market adage that says, "The majority of market participants are always wrong at major turning points." I have no idea whether this old saying will once again prove accurate before the week is over - but I do know that now is not the time to get complacent with respect to your pipeline risk management.
Keep those "lock-in" sheets filled out and ready to go - if it starts to rain on the parade of all of those market participants expecting perpetually lower mortgage rates - the first ones to scramble for cover will avoid the financial drenching those who hesitate will likely experience.
THE MARKET IS ALWAYS RIGHT! . YOU AND I ARE SOME OF THE TIME
